Activists say Israeli troops have boarded aid ship
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The Guardian
8 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The right to peaceful protest must be maintained
Andy Beckett is right that 'the legally safe space for protest in Britain is shrinking again' (Anger, fear and a total rejection of politics: the Palestine Action protest was a snapshot of Britain today, 11 August). Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, might consider this as she ponders why so many ordinary people, not previously political activists, are volunteering for arrest as terrorist sympathisers. The proscription of Palestine Action sits among egregious violations of international law. People outraged by atrocities in Gaza and the West Bank are dismayed at the continued prevarications of our government. This is one motivation for those seated terrorists. However, there is another – the relentless attack on our civil liberties. This did not begin with Keir Starmer's government, but it has doubled down on suppressing freedoms with renewed zeal. When the Terrorism Act (under which Palestine Action was proscribed) was debated in 1999, it was acknowledged: 'We will have handed the terrorists the victory that they seek if … we descend to their level and undermine the essential freedoms and rule of law that are the bedrock of our democracy.' This was the then home secretary, Jack Straw. He reassured the Commons that the bill was 'not intended to threaten in any way the right to demonstrate peacefully – nor will it do so'. Never would a British government misuse the huge power it was being given. More than 700 arrests for supporting Palestine Action testify to his error. Not-so-ordinary people are risking jail sentences, travel restrictions, asset confiscation and ruined employment prospects. They are outraged at Gaza, but also outraged to see counter-terror legislation pressed into supporting a morally moribund government. Dr David KillickKendal, Cumbria Andy Beckett's account of his sortie into the recent London demonstration in support of Palestine, and reports of the rightwing protest groups gathering outside hotels housing asylum seekers, are both indicators that few people now have a sense that Keir Starmer's Britain reflects their views or priorities. As well as in London, people here in Derbyshire and other towns around the country gathered to express their frustration with our politicians' response to some of their deepest concerns. We have become a country without a shared agreement on what constitutes right or wrong, on what is an acceptable form of dissent, or on what constitutes the real threats to the survival of our democratic freedoms. This government thrashes about desperately trying to make sense of the events happening all around it and making ill-judged knee-jerk responses that provoke even more hostility. It seems unable to articulate a narrative that will help people feel heard, or which can help foster a sense of social cohesion. The UK has become a country devoid of spiritual, moral and political leadership. The threats from without and within are beginning to fray the very fabric that once held everything together. The critical task for this government now is how it is going to heal and unite this fractured, divided country before it heads into yet further chaos and conflict and everything begins to fall RiddleWirksworth, Derbyshire Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
The Guardian
36 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israeli general says 50 Palestinians must die for every 7 October victim
The Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 has said 50 Palestinians must die for every person killed that day and 'it does not matter now if they are children', in recordings broadcast by Israel's Channel 12 TV station. Aharon Haliva said the toll in Gaza, which he put at more than 50,000 dead, was 'necessary' as a 'message to future generations' of Palestinians. 'They need a Nakba every now and then to feel the price,' he added, referring to the mass expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands after the creation of Israel in 1948. Nakba means catastrophe in Arabic. Much of Israel's leadership and media has used genocidal rhetoric about Palestinians since Hamas's 7 October attacks, including describing them as 'human animals', saying there are 'no innocents' in Gaza and calling for Gaza's total destruction and its ethnic cleansing. However Haliva's description of a campaign of mass killing including children was an unusually direct description of collective punishment of civilians, which is illegal under international law. Haliva, who stepped down from his position in April 2024, also appeared to endorse the casualty figures compiled by health authorities in Gaza, which Israeli officials regularly attack as propaganda. They have proved reliable in past conflicts. Channel 12 said the undated conversations were recorded 'in recent months'. The Gaza health ministry's toll for those killed by Israeli attacks passed 50,000 in March and has recently climbed above 60,000. Israel's most recent published data on the war put the number of militants killed at about 20,000, so Haliva would have been aware that even by his country's own count most of the Palestinians killed were civilians. 'The fact that there are already 50,000 dead in Gaza is necessary and required for future generations,' he said in the broadcast comments. 'For everything that happened on October 7th, for every person on October 7, 50 Palestinians must die. It doesn't matter now if they are children.' About 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas-led cross-border attacks, the majority of them civilians, and 250 were taken hostage to Gaza. Channel 12 did not clarify how it had obtained the recordings or who Haliva was speaking with. Israel's Haaretz newspaper described the recordings as a format that allowed the retired officer to 'give an interview … without actually being interviewed'. Haliva's comments about mass killings of Palestinian civilians did not make headlines in other mainstream Israeli outlets. They focused instead on his criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu and warnings of systemic failures in security and intelligence. That coverage highlighted the vast gulf between how the war is perceived and discussed inside Israel's borders and beyond them. Among Israelis, Haliva is widely seen as a centrist critic of the current government and far-right ministers such as Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, as the general himself noted in the broadcast comments. He quoted an internal critic at the intelligence directorate telling him it was 'lucky' that many of those killed and kidnapped on 7 October 2023 were leftwing Israelis linked to peace movements. 'He told me: 'If this had happened to us, the right, you wouldn't have gone to war like this,'' Haliva said. 'That's what people believe here.' Quique Kierszenbaum contributed to this report
The Guardian
38 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Israeli plan to displace 1m Palestinians spreads fear in Gaza
Palestinians were gripped by fear and anxiety on Sunday after the Israeli military said it was preparing for the forcible displacement of 1 million people from Gaza City. The announcement came days after Israel said it intended to launch a new offensive to seize control of the enclave's largest urban centre, in a plan that raised international alarm, and ahead of the IDF's latest attacks in the Palestinian territory which Gaza's health officials said had killed at least 40 people on Saturday including a baby in a tent and people seeking aid. 'Based on the directives of the political leadership, and as part of the Israel Defense Forces' preparations to transfer civilians from combat zones to the southern Gaza Strip for their safety, starting tomorrow (Sunday), the provision of tents and shelter equipment for Gaza residents will resume,' read a statement by the Israeli Coordination of Government Activities in the Palestinian Territories (COGAT). 'The equipment will be transferred through the Kerem Shalom crossing by the United Nations and international relief organizations, after undergoing thorough inspection by the Land Crossings Authority of the Ministry of Defense,' it added. Meanwhile, new recordings broadcast by an Israeli TV station showed the Israeli general who headed military intelligence on 7 October 2023 saying that 50 Palestinians 'must die' for every person killed that day, and 'it does not matter now if they are children'. The channel said the undated conversations were recorded 'in recent months'. And in the US the state department announced that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Donald Trump who has described herself as 'a proud Islamophobe'. Following Israel's announcement, Palestinians in Gaza – displaced repeatedly, forced to live in tent camps or amid the ruins of their homes, stricken by hunger and deprived of medical supplies – are bracing for another humanitarian disaster as a new offensive would force them toward the south of the territory and an uncertain future. 'We are already destroyed and exhausted, physically and psychologically, from repeated displacement, from the lack of food and water,' Akram Shlabia, 85, told the Guardian from the Shuja'iyya neighbourhood of Gaza City. 'And now they want us to go to the south! Into nothingness, into the unknown, into a place without shelter or the basic means of life, even safety.' 'We will face many problems in displacement,' said Mazen Hasaneh, 40, from al-Tuffah neighbourhood, who has been displaced six times during the war. 'First, securing a way to transport the necessary items like a tent and other basics, and of course many drivers will exploit people's desperation and raise prices, while people have no money to pay. 'The second problem is finding a place to set up the tent and settle, along with the difficulty of finding and providing water and food. Everything about displacement is suffering, especially in our current conditions.' Some families have already begun moving south to secure shelter in anticipation of possible evacuation, while others are contacting relatives to ask about available space should the relocation plan proceed. Yet many say they will remain in Gaza City, declaring they would rather stay than face the hardships of displacement. 'If the plan is carried out, I will look for a safe place for myself and my children within Gaza, and I will not consider moving to the south of the Strip,' said Asma Al-Barawi, 34, from al-Tuffah, the mother of seven children. 'I didn't leave the first time, and I won't leave this time. The experiences and suffering I heard from the displaced who went south were harsh and unbearable.' 'I lost everything because of this war,' she added. 'I lost two of my brothers, two of my maternal aunts with their families, my cousin, and my father-in-law. And, I lost my new home, which I only left with some clothes.' In recent days, heavy explosions have echoed from areas east of Gaza, where Israeli forces have intensified operations, including artillery barrages and the start of an incursion on the outskirts of the Sabra neighbourhood. On Saturday a baby girl and her parents were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit a tent in al-Muwasi, previously designated a humanitarian zone by Israel, in southern Gaza, Nasser hospital officials and witnesses said. 'Two and a half months old, what has she done?' a neighbour, Fathi Shubeir, asked. 'They are civilians in an area designated safe.' Israel's military said it could not comment on the strike without more details. Al-Muwasi is now one of the most heavily populated areas in Gaza after Israel pushed people into the desolate area. But the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said last week that Israel planned to widen its coming military offensive to include the area, along with Gaza City and 'central camps' – an apparent reference to the built-up Nuseirat and Bureij refugee camps in central Gaza. According to the civil defence agency, at least 13 of the Palestinians killed on Saturday were shot by troops as they were waiting to collect food aid near distribution sites in the north and the south. There were also another 11 malnutrition-related deaths in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Saturday, including at least one child. That brought malnutrition-related deaths due to the Israeli blockade on aid to 251. Meanwhile in Israel police blasted crowds with water cannons and made dozens of arrests on Sunday as thousands of protesters in Jerusalem demanded a deal to free hostages in Gaza. The demonstrators aimed to shut down the country with a one-day strike that blocked roads and closed businesses. Groups representing families of hostages organised the demonstrations as frustration grows in Israel over plans for the new military offensive, which many fear could further endanger the remaining hostages, about 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. 'We don't win a war over the bodies of hostages,' protesters chanted in one of the largest and fiercest protests in 22 months of war. Protesters gathered at dozens of places including outside politicians' homes, military headquarters and on major highways. They blocked lanes and lit bonfires. Police said they arrested 38 people. Israel's military offensive has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, most of them civilians. The figure does not include the thousands believed to be buried under rubble or the thousands killed indirectly as a consequence of the war.
